Love and the Sport of Pigeon Racing 24/10/06

Love And The Sport of Pigeon Racing

by Liam O Comain

Here I am speaking of human membership that is the persons who constitute a club, for example you and me and Brigid there and of course young Terence, who have made a choice about the sport that we like and are committed to. And by love I mean accepting each other unconditionally and wishing the best for each other not alone in the sport but throughout all areas of human life. But, alas, because of the phenomenon of human weakness and all that that includes the reality of a basic love is at times lacking in the sport. Therefore through this piece I call on each and everyone of us throughout the world of pigeondom to rally to the standard of wishing each other the best in the great sport of pigeon racing. In doing so we shall recapture the best of the social and the community aspects that once prevailed at our meetings and which characterizes our species as human. Man and woman at play so to speak, the latter helping us to travel with a lighter foot through this life. Which at times canbe a cross without the folly of personally creating our own crosses to add to that which life mysteriously bestows in a different degree to each of us.

My motivation for writing this piece arises from my experiences after my return to the sport after an absence of some decades. Yes, ill will was a part of the pigeon racing fraternity those decades ago but now it appears to be near rampant. And it is not a reality existing in one area alone for correspondents via email, letter, telephone, etc., from other countries relates to it as the most of all negatives in the sport, today. And of course we can remove it because of the God given or naturally bestowed human intellect which we all posses. And through the reality of human will control our negative thoughts and emotions. For authentic love has to be willed, it is not what some characterizes it to be: an uncontrollable tumble- weed of emotion running rampant!

This of course does not hide the truth that when human beings come together there will be differences of opinion, even deeply of character. But through the reality of good will towards each other as the basis for rational debate we can get as near to agreement as humanly possible. Is this not preferable to the existence of ill willed behaviour which erodes the sport to the extent that there are those leaving it because the concept of it as a 'sport' no longer exists. That the continuous tension arising from ill willed behaviour leaves no place for authentic friendship and creates an atmosphere which is a deadly poison to the continuing existence of a club, a fed, or a union. In fact the ill will exemplified is contrary to the essence of the definitions of a club, a fed, or a union.

Now some may counter that as human beings we all have weaknesses and that what I am seeking could only exist in a so called 'heaven' where that weakness was no more. That weakness I have acknowledged above but the tools of dealing with it I also have referred to- the human intellect and the human will. Yes, it will not be easy, in fact it will be most difficult for some, but willed perseverance will in time bear fruit depending upon the depth of ones proneness to negative behaviour. That fruit will flourish by the membership looking forward to attending meetings in an atmosphere of human fraternity and cooperation for the good of the sport, especially of its need for growth.

What is being advocated is the only way to the elimination of conflicting cliques, of generating good will, of an end to power struggles, of giving honour where honour is due, of eliminating petty jealousies, of being sociable, of opening membership to all, of ensuring unity for in that lies the strength of the sport, and so on. The alternative is the suicide of the sport arising from the selfish processes of those who refuse to see the damage which they are inflicting upon that which they apparently claim to love. Pigeon racing to remind ourselves is a sport and a sport implies being sociable. And what is the essence of sociability but joy. That joy which at its best is expressed in a loving family. Yes, we of the sport of pigeon racing must return to our essence, the essence of a family... the joy of a family, the joy of a club!

24/10/06